‘No Surprises’ in Kerry’s Israel Framework, Both Sides Expected to Reject It

The first few details of the “Kerry Plan” for an Israel-Palestine framework agreement leaked earlier this week, and what little was known was enough for both sides to be sure they didn’t like it.

Israeli coalition MPs were condemning Secretary of State John Kerry as an “anti-Semite,” and Palestinian officials say that if the initial reports are true, there’s absolutely no deal.

US officials don’t seem to be taking the hint, however, and US negotiator Martin Indyk is in Israel briefing officials on the further details of an already rejected plan, assuring there will be “no surprises” in it, and that the full plan will be unveiled in the weeks to come.

Indyk says the assumption is that both sides will accept the deal, and this will be the basis for further talks eventually ending in Palestinian statehood. That the deal has been spurned by both sides seems not to have been absorbed by US officials, or at least isn’t changing their plans to push the deal.